Tom, it all depends on what is in the box. :-) The computers they sell for "home" or "Internet" or "office" are just ... computers with the cheapest parts the manufacturers could get away with. Yes, for graphics work you need RAM, RAM, RAM and again RAM. I've got a computer with 256 MB at work and working in Photoshop is a pain. At home I've got a gigabyte and everything flies, although the processor is far from being one of the latest generations. Graphics card, I'd recommend Nvidia 6600, if you can afford it. It's not the most expensive top model (6800), but it gives you very nice speed in both games, 3D graphics previews, photography. For not-gaming applications, good card is important because better cards can give you bigger resolution with higher refresh frequency so the image is much stable. About the photo, my monitor here at home is bit on the dark side, but I see quite a lot of stuff in the background. The yellowish-green leaf in the upper left corner, lighter green in the lower right corner, darker green in the lower left corner, even a bit of green in the upper right corner. And the only place the flower appears really blown out is a bit to the right and up from the middle spot. Quite nice range, in other words.

-- erlik